Delinquents
by LumosFlies
Summary: Caught in the heat of the moment, Arthur lands himself, among several other boys, in detention. Unfortunately, he uses this time to ponder his feelings for his American friend, and refuses to act on them. Contains a high school alternate universe, human names, and a weak plot.


Of all things they could have bonded over, Arthur most certainly did not expect detention to be one of them. Of course, he wouldn't even ended up in such a stuffy, isolated classroom if it weren't for the boy sitting next to him. As soon as their supervising teacher left the room, all eight of the students relaxed. Next to the window sat a trio of best friends. They instantly started whispering to each other as soon as the door shut.

"I am so sorry I have earned us detention. Allow me to try to earn your forgiveness with a picnic of Japanese cuisine this weekend," the Asian boy said calmly. Though his tone was seemingly apathetic, the other two seemed to understand that he was sincere anyways.

"Ooh! Can we have some more of those rice balls you brought in for lunch?" the auburn haired boy asked hopefully. It appeared to Arthur that he had already forgotten he was in detention in the first place.

"Nein. We should apologize to you, Kiku. It wasn't your fault that Feliciano…" Arthur failed to hear just what had earned those three detention when he heard a rather loud cackle from the behind. Turning his head slightly, he noticed Francis, Antonio, and Gilbert snickering amongst themselves as they carelessly eyed the Brit.

They had already started scheming their next vendetta against the British boy several rows in front of them. Arthur sighed in defeat. The trio wouldn't even need to plot against him if it weren't for the irritating American, who was currently occupying himself with his iPod.

"Bloody git," Arthur muttered under his breath, still in a rage about that morning's series of rather unfortunate events. He was about to reach over and yank the white headphones out of Alfred's ears when he heard someone behind him curse in Italian.

"Damn it, potato bastard! Leave my brother alone and go talk to your own dumbass brother," a tan boy sitting directly behind Arthur demanded. Antonio, who was absolutely delighted to finally hear the freshman make his presence known, allowed himself to smirk at the Italian's possessiveness. Arthur would have notice it if he wasn't paying attention to the chalkboard in front of him, determination to not get involved clear in his expression. The blond boy sitting with the Asian and other Italian boy simply rolled his eyes and replied calmly, "Lovino, my friendship with your brother is doing no harm to anyone. Perhaps you should find your own friend. Antonio is more than willing to volunteer."

As Feliciano and Kiku tried to calm down their friend, Francis and Gilbert smirked at Lovino as he scooted away from an advancing Spainiard, and Alfred's head dropped to his desk (with a rather loud snore), Arthur somehow managed to get lost in his own thoughts. He thought about whatever he could to escape the chaotic boys around him. Eventually, his mind had focused on replaying that morning's events in his head. It was an awful reminder of what Arthur had to endure almost every day of the week. Although he would never admit it, though, Arthur was simultaneously reminded of why he had chosen to endure his friend's antics most of the time.

* * *

"It's far too early in morning to be here. I swear to God, if you get _any_ of that dye on my uniform, I will-"

"Forgive me? Love me forever and ever?" Alfred asked hopefully. Having becoming accustomed to the American's constant interruption, Arthur inwardly scolded himself for not making his point clear fast enough. Completely oblivious to his friend's internal conflict with himself, Alfred flashed one of his "heroic" smiles to reassure Arthur.

"I wouldn't worry about that, Artie. Your precious sweater will stay that bland shade of grey all day." Alfred grinned again, quite proud of himself for the unintentional rhyme. "Hey, I'm a poet and I didn't even know it!"

"You _wish_ you were that intellectually advanced…And stop calling me 'Artie,' already! You've known for years that I find it irritating," Arthur scoffed. Sometimes, he hardly remembered why they were friends in the first place. They were complete opposites. Alfred practically inhaled coffee in the mornings, while Arthur usually opted to have a simple cup of tea. Alfred was loud, unfiltered, and quite popular among his peers. Arthur was more reserved, considerate of people's feelings, and had an average social status in school. Alfred loved football, baseball, and just about any other sport he could find time to play after school, and Arthur preferred to stay inside to read his vast collection of novels.

"You know you love me," Alfred replied cheekily. Arthur nearly felt his heart skip a beat when he heard _that _particular word come out of his best friend's mouth.

It both delighted and pained him that Alfred was still affectionate around the shorter boy. If only he hadn't grown to fancy _this _boy out of all the boys in school. It was horrid enough that Alfred all but proudly presented his best friend to all of his other gay friends. Matters were only made worse when Arthur had realized that he didn't want any of the boys Alfred tried to set him up with. He knew, though was reluctant to admit to himself, that he wanted one boy and one boy only. Unfortunately, he learned that this "one boy" was also the one standing next to him, strapping brightly colored water balloons to his belt and the inside of his signature bomber jacket.

"Whatever. Can we just get this over with before we get caught. The last the I want to do right now is spend an afternoon in detention with imbiciles like _you_," the Brit whined. He was about to continue his rant when his friend raised a gloved hand and covered his mouth. Confused and downright frustrated, Arthur removed the hand from his mouth and began walking around the corner. He was stopped, however, when said hand pulled him backwards.

"What now?" Arthur demanded.

"Shh! I see them coming and you're about to blow our cover," Alfred warned.

"You mean _your _cover. I refuse to take part in such immaturity," the short blond confirmed. He then proceeded to make his way back to the building's main doors in order to arrive to his first class of the day early. Being a head shorter than everyone else in his classes, Arthur always had to get there early if he wanted to get a seat with a view that wouldn't be obstructed by ridiculously tall classmates.

Just as he stepped out of the American's view, the sound of a bucket of water being poured over a body and splashing around their feet proved that Arthur had indeed revealed his and Alfred's location.

"A-Artie?" Alfred asked in a quiet tone. Afraid of the other boy's wrath, he then began to toss his own water supply at a pair of retreating backs.

"Alfred, I am only going to say this once, so listen carefully," Arthur huffed. He had yet to open his eyes that were covered by his drenched blond bangs. "Give me some of your water balloons."

Cautiously and carefully, the taller boy placed several of his balloons in the angered Brit's open hands. With a quiet and surprisingly calm "thank you," Arthur took off at an alarmingly fast pace. Alfred was extremely surprised to see so much energy being converted to pure fury as he saw blurs of red, orange, purple, and blue viciously attack _his _initial targets.

There was something wrong, though. As amused and proud as Alfred was, he felt like he was forgetting something, rather than _someone_. He had thought that this was unimportant, though, and began to follow the trail of wet footsteps to find Arthur. He knew that his best friend was not likely to calm down unless he was there to soothe him. As soon as he had let his guard down, however, a silver haired boy snuck up behind him, crushed his own water balloon to the American's back, and ran in the opposite direction as quickly as possible. Alfred would not go down without a fight. On the other side of the school, it seemed that Arthur would not give up, either.

Eventually, an unsuspecting teacher had caught all five boys, soaked to the bone and caught up in their personal battle in the courtyard. Since they had missed about half of their first period class, she had assumed they were all skipping it to frolic around campus together. Needless to say, Arthur was boiling in his own anger and ended up taking it out on the one who had gotten him involved him the first place. Even hours later, Alfred still had a large blue and purple bruise on his left arm.

* * *

"Hey, Kirkland!" Gilbert's obnoxious call had quickly drawn Arthur back from his daydreaming. The platinum haired boy couldn't help snickering when Arthur's cheeks slowly turned a light had of pink upon realizing that he was still in detention, and that seven pairs of eyes were staring back at him.

"W-What are all of you looking at?" Arthur asked with decreasing confidence.

"Artie, why were you…er…staring at me?" a voice asked from his right. Fearing the worst, Arthur shifted in his seat to see Alfred, earbuds hanging casually around his neck, nervously avoiding eye contact.

"Er…Sorry. I must have spaced out, again. You know how I can get lost in my own houghts when I'm bored," the shorter boy let out a shaky laugh. It was not convincing in the slightest, but everyone pretended not to notice.

"He was probably daydreaming about Jones' teeny tiny-"

"Gilbert!" Surprisingly, it was his younger brother that interrupted the German. "It is none of your business what he thinks about. If we were going to share stories about each other's daydreams, then I would not hesitate to tell everyone about your encounter with Roderich last year."

The British boy didn't know if he should be thankful or intimidated by the blond German. He quietly thanked him and turned to focus his eyes on the clock. Time had passed quickly, and he now only had to serve ten more minutes of detention. After that, he could escape questioning from everyone else and convince himself that he had _not_ been thinking about his best friend. Alfred, however, knew better. He scooted his chair closer to Arthur until they were a close distance apart. The Brit could smell the ever so familiar mixture of cheeseburgers, soda, and strawberry flavored gum. No matter how repulsive Arthur tried to convince himself it smelled, he knew that it also happened to be one of his favorite scents.

"So, what _were_ you daydreaming about?" he asked with a curious expression.

With slightly pink cheeks, Arthur grumbled and gently pushed his friend away from him. "I'm still mad at you, Alfred."

"Come on! That was, like," the blond pulled out his cell phone to check the current time. "Seven hours ago! You didn't even get any food dye on you! And"

An icy glare from emerald green eyes instantly silenced Alfred. He sighed, slightly defeated, and moved his seat back to his desk. The pair hadn't spoken until after their teacher had returned to release the students. Arthur huffed and made a beeline for the stairs. His attempt to distance himself from Alfred when a pair of hands pulled his shoulders back. Within seconds, he was briskly turned around. Fear had claimed his eyes in the brief moment he had lost control. The hands had yet to leave his shoulders, and Arthur could _feel _the determination to keep him rooted to this spot.

"Artie, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have dragged you out of bed so early just for a silly prank war. I just didn't want you to worry about me," Alfred apologized. Reading his friend's confused expression, he continued, "You always call me in the morning to make sure I'm up, and I really do appreciate them. But I knew I wouldn't be able to answer my phone if I was in the middle of soaking Francis or being attacked like you were, so I sort of acted without thinking and just brought you with me."

A furious glare had softened to a gaze, which was almost considered admiring. If Alfred had not known better, he would have compared it to the look his mother gave his father when he would leave little surprises around the house for her. He didn't bother waiting for a response, and resumed his prolonged apology by pulling Arthur into a bone crushing hug. The shorter boy finally found his voice and began to shout demands to be put down. His request was granted, and he was pleased to feel his feet touch the ground again.

Arthur was about to lecture the American about giving other people their personal space just when his hair was ruffled fondly by said boy. The corners of his lips twitched up, though. He had to admit that he enjoyed Alfred's invasion of his personal space.

"You could have just told me this morning," he finally spoke up.

Alfred shrugged as if that thought had never occurred to him. Instead, he grinned that large, lopsided smile that Arthur had grown fond of. "So, Artie? You're _quite_ the delinquent, now. Chasing Francis and Antonio across campus, assaulting them with colored water, and getting into detention. I'd say you're pretty much a badass around school. You should start riding a motorcycle and getting tattoos, soon."

"Let's go, you bloody idiot," Arthur rolled his eyes at Alfred's teasing and started making his way to the double doors leading to the parking lot.

"But I'm _your _idiot, Artie!" Alfred laughed as he followed the shorter boy outside. "You know you love me!"

Smiling to himself with his back still turned to Alfred, Arthur silently agreed. _"Yes, I do."_

* * *

_Author's Note_

Obviously, I'm not as talented a writer as many of you wonderful people here, but I tried. This is actually one fanfic that I feel somewhat confident about. So feel free to leave a comment, or some constructive criticism. I welcome both, as it helps me identify what I need to work on, what my strengths/weaknesses are. Also, I'm terribly sorry if you've ever read one of my stories before it was deleted without any warning or explanation. I suppose I was too ashamed to even look back at them and they made me feel insecure about my writing. However, I'm working on that, and this story will _not _be deleted any time soon. Thank you for taking the time to read this story, and I hope to write more for you in the future.


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